HTGAA 2026: Individual Final Project Documentation Project Title: A Hydrogel-Embedded Multiple Input-Output (MIMO) Genetic Circuit for IL-6 and Hypoxia Detection
Section 1: Abstract Chronic inflammatory diseases and solid tumors share a pathophysiological signature characterized by elevated interleukin-6 (IL-6) and reduced local oxygen tension (hypoxia). Current clinical monitoring cannot detect these signals simultaneously at the tissue level in real time, requiring repeated blood draws or imaging procedures that are slow, lab-dependent, and inaccessible to over 3.5 billion people globally who lack basic diagnostic services. This project addresses that gap by engineering a hydrogel-embedded, cell-free genetic circuit capable of sensing both IL-6 and hypoxia as dual inputs and producing two corresponding outputs: sfGFP fluorescence as a quantifiable reporter signal and a therapeutic peptide as a functional biological output.